Helping leaders turn values into systems, culture, and collective impact
Support for B Corps and purpose driven companies navigating the new standards, building workplaces of belonging, and engaging in collective action.
How the work happens:
The Values to Impact Framework
Real impact does not happen through values alone. It happens when those values shape how a company operates, leads, and participates in the broader economy.
The Values to Impact Framework helps purpose-driven companies turn intention into action. The result is stronger culture, the ability to attract and retain talented people, deeper trust with customers, and brands that create value for people, planet, and the bottom line.
You might notice the boats in the graphic. We are based here in Portland, Maine where a working waterfront is part of everyday life, and it offers a simple way to think about how this work functions.
In this framework, your values are your navigation. They guide where you are headed and why the journey matters. Your systems are the lines and tools that keep the vessel operating and connected. Your culture is the crew, and the stronger the morale and trust among the crew, the farther and more successfully the boat can travel. And your collective impact is what your work brings back to the community, supporting livelihoods, ecosystems, and the broader economy along the way.
If your organization is ready to turn values into systems, culture, and collective impact, we would love to explore the journey with you.
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Every impact journey begins with clarity.
In this stage we help organizations articulate the change they want to create and translate their values into a clear theory of change. Together we map how your business activities contribute to social and environmental outcomes and how those outcomes connect back to the long-term success of the company.
A strong theory of change turns values into something actionable. It helps leaders make better decisions, align teams around shared priorities, and communicate the purpose behind the work.
Because businesses evolve, we also revisit this framework year over year. This ensures your values, strategy, performance, and impact remain connected as the organization grows.
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Values become real when they shape how a company operates.
In this phase we translate purpose into governance, policies, and operational practices that support measurable impact. To guide this work, we use the latest standards from B Lab as our primary benchmarking tool. These standards are among the most rigorous and comprehensive frameworks available for understanding how a business affects its workers, customers, communities, and the environment.
While many organizations pursue B Corp certification through this process, certification itself is not the only goal. Even for companies that do not intend to certify, the standards provide a powerful way to assess current practices, identify opportunities for improvement, and build systems that support long-term accountability.
The result is a business where impact is embedded into how decisions are made and how success is measured.
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Systems set expectations, but culture determines how those expectations show up in daily work.
This stage focuses on building workplaces of belonging where people can contribute, grow, and stay. Through leadership development and universal design approaches, we help organizations create environments that attract and retain talented people who want their work to matter.
Strong cultures increase morale, strengthen collaboration, and help organizations retain the people who make their mission possible.
When culture aligns with values, the organization becomes stronger from the inside out.
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No company creates systemic change alone.
The final stage focuses on identifying opportunities for collaboration, advocacy, and collective action. This may include participating in industry initiatives, supporting policy change, or joining coalitions working to address shared challenges.
Collective action allows businesses to extend their influence beyond their own operations and contribute to broader social and environmental progress.
By working together, companies can help shape markets, policies, and communities in ways that no single organization could accomplish on its own.
Rise Together
Building an impact-driven company can be deeply meaningful work, but it can also feel isolating. Many of the people responsible for this work inside their organizations are navigating complex challenges without many peers to learn from, test ideas with, or turn to for support.
Rising Kind exists to change that.
Through small cohorts, shared learning, and ongoing community, members work through the Values to Impact Framework together. Participants gain practical tools for strengthening their organizations while building relationships with others committed to using business as a force for good.
The outcomes are real. Stronger companies with impact embedded in how they operate. Workplaces where talented people want to stay and grow. Deeper trust with customers and communities. And leaders who feel less alone in the responsibility of guiding this work forward.
The name Rising Kind comes from a simple belief. The future will be shaped by the people who choose to build it together. When values become systems, culture, and collective action, something powerful begins to happen. Businesses become vessels for positive change and the people behind them become part of a community working toward something larger than themselves.
We call those people the rising kind.
If this resonates with you and the work you are trying to do, we invite you to apply to join an upcoming cohort.
Let’s build this together, because we are the rising kind.
Welcome
Hi friend. I’m Benn. Welcome to The Rising Kind.
I’ve spent more than twenty years working at the intersection of business, impact, and systems change. Along the way I’ve learned something simple but powerful. Real change happens when values become systems, when culture supports the work, and when leaders come together around shared goals.
The Rising Kind is a space for business leaders who believe companies can be a force for good and who want practical tools, community, and support to make that vision real. Many of the people doing this work inside their organizations carry a lot of responsibility and often do so without many peers to learn from or troubleshoot with.
This community exists to change that.
Together we work through the Values to Impact Framework, helping leaders translate purpose into systems, culture, and collective action while building stronger companies along the way.
The Rising Kind is still taking shape, with an official launch planned for spring 2026. The early members who join now will help shape what it becomes.
My hope is that this space helps you sharpen your thinking, strengthen your organization, and connect with others who are committed to building businesses that serve people, planet, and the long-term health of our communities.
If you are trying to build a company that contributes more than it extracts, you belong here.
